Red Fox in Udall's Cove, Queens, NYC

More pictures of the red fox from my study area. This so far is the only publically photographed red fox documented in Queens, NYC outside of Alley Pond Park.

 It looks like he has a meal in his mouth here:

Unknown Animal

This animal was photographed on my trail cam recently.  I am unable to determine what it is. Based on the camera positioning and location of the animal I believe it is too big to be a cat. It clearly isn't a raccoon. The tail doesn't seem to match a fox. This isn't a location where dogs would be unlikely to roam. It's inconclusive, however the tail size and shape does seem to match this: Link

Raccoon Remains

I recently came across these scant remains of what appears, based on the color and fur type, to be raccoon. These were found less than 50 yards from the scat finding I wrote about last month. This isn't necessarily related to a coyote, but I thought it was an interesting find nonetheless.

Red Fox in Queens, NYC

My trail cams have photographed a red fox.  According to the Urban Park Rangers, Field Guide to the Natural World of New York City By Leslie Day, and multiple other sources, red foxes are known to exist in Queens only in Alley Pond Park, where they are quite rare. I  could not find any source that said red foxes are in the area where my camera caught one, or anywhere else in Queens outside of Alley Pond. The camera that took the photo below is in Udall's Cove Preserve. This is the first publically and photographically documented red fox in Queens outside of Alley Pond Park.

Sources:

• http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20130702/new-york-city/where-spot-wildlife-new-york-citys-concrete-jungle
• http://books.google.com/books?id=-BoOGYeaQ64C&dq

Scat Finding

This scat appeared to be at least 1 day old and was located on the middle of a rock in a dried stream bed trail crossing. I used a quarter as a size reference as quarters are approximately 1'' in diameter. The size is roughly 4'' long and 3/4'' wide with one end tapered. It contains white or light gray colored fur.

According to The Complete Tracker - The Tracks, Signs and Habits of North American Wildlife by Len McDougall, Coyote scat is generally between 3'' to 4'' long and 1'' in diameter. In Tracking and the Art of Seeing: How to Read Animal Tracks and Sign by Paul Rezendes, Coyote scat is said to be between 1/4'' to 1 5/16'' in diameter. Coyote scat is often filled with animal fur, is tapered, and is frequently used as a territory marker, thus it is deposited in commonly traversed areas such as on trails. The scat I found matches precisely the size, shape, composition, and location of Coyote scat.

Sources:
http://www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/wildlife/problem_wildlife/coyote.html
http://icwdm.org/inspection/BlackBrownDroppings.aspx

Brown Opossum and Albino Mourning Dove

Some interesting non-canid fauna in Queens that I have came across.


An Albino Mourning I photographed in central Queens. A very unique looking bird.

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Opossums generally have gray underfur with gray, black, or brown outer guard hair. Less commonly they have black underfur with black or gray guard hairs. I recently found a carcass of an Opossum (confirmed via dentition) on Long Island Railroad tracks that had brown underfur and brown guard hairs. A known, but very rare combination, especially in the North where the gray outer guard hair predominates.

Sources:

A Brown Mutation in the Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) with Remarks upon the Gray and the Black Phases in This Species by Hartman
http://books.google.com/books?id=jcIUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA146&lpg=PA146&dq=A+Brown+Mutation+in+the+Opossum+%28Didelphis+virginiana%29+with+Remarks+upon+the+Gray+and+the+Black+Phases+in+This+Species&source=bl&ots=YBTZfxVvMK&sig=bh0HzxIU3D0yF01thDpZeZHtPdI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fRXsU57UBsHvoATqtILIAg&ved=0CD8Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false
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Indiana DNR - Opossum
http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/3367.htm
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The Wild Mammals of Missouri by Schwartz 
http://books.google.com/books?id=uEWl0ZM6DfUC&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=opossum+brown+underfur&source=bl&ots=R-GReqYKuM&sig=-BvF8kYYn5bKo5enq4WZU1308ZI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TxnsU9uRHM6dygTnw4HYCg&ved=0CEoQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q&f=false
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Preliminary Study of the North American Opossums of the Genus Didelphis by J. A. Allen.
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=wgstAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&authuser=0&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA147

Sightings Map of Coyotes in Queens

Below is a map of Coyote sightings that have been reported in the media in Queens. Mouse over the markers for the specific locations and year of sighting.

• http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/animal-control-officers-set-trap-rochdale-village-coyote-spotted-article-1.418192
• http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2010/11/laurelton_times_newskbxwqzi03102010.html
• http://nymag.com/news/features/coyotes-2014-2/
• http://nypost.com/2011/01/23/coyotes-grave-love-prospects/
• http://nypost.com/2004/01/27/queens-coyote-goes-with-floe/

About Queens Canid Research

My name is Brad Gibson and I am researching wild urban canids in the borough of Queens, NYC. It has been thought coyotes are traveling into Queens from upstate NY via railroad lines. My intention is to document this dispersal and colonization. The methods used are non-lethal and non-conspicuous. I have examined locations around Queens that could potentially harbor Fox and Coyote.  In these locales I have looked for signs of their presence on foot, and have set up motion activated cameras for long term observation. In the coming days, weeks, and months I will share with you what I have found.

An Introduction to NYC Coyotes

Welcome. After having observed the Locust Manor Long Island Railroad Coyote in Queens, NYC in the fall of 2012 I became fascinated with the possibility of Coyotes living in the United States most populous Metropolis. Coyotes have been in the Bronx for some time now, and are widely accepted as being residents of that borough. The Bronx is connected to Westchester County and thus Upstate NY, hence Coyotes colonization there is to be expected. Coyotes in Manhattan are a surprise however, as there is little habitat for them, along with the fact that Manhattan is an Island and is thus isolated from the mainland. Every year Coyotes are spotted in Manhattan and these rogues are presumed to have crossed railroad tracks, bridges, or even swam across the East and/or Hudson rivers. Unlike the Bronx, the Coyotes in Manhattan are not residents, they are roaming vagrants that always end up captured and relocated. Brooklyn has had very few Coyote sightings. This is likely due to the lack of parks in the Borough, and the lack of potential travel paths a Coyote could use to get there. Queens is home to the city's only non-Bronx resident Coyote(s). The Locust Manor Long Island Railroad station is adjacent to a small parcel of wooded land. Coyotes were first spotted there in 2010 and as recently as last year. I witnessed a large, darker-than-usual color morph, Coyote there in 2012.

The Coyotes in NYC, like all Coyotes in the Northeastern United States, are not genetically pure. Canis Latrans historically is a Western species. Gray Wolves, as a competitor and adversary, kept Coyote population numbers in check and in a specific geographic area. However as the United States was industrialized, forests were destroyed and along with them the creatures that inhabited them. Wolves were exterminated from nearly the entire Eastern half of the country. This left no wild canids and a large niche to fill. By the early 20th century deforestation had slowed, and by the mid 20th century forested land was rebounding. Coyotes, being more adaptable than Wolves, started moving East. The Coyotes moving towards the Southeast remained more or less pure Coyotes, however the ones coming Northeast met up with Canis Lycaon, the Eastern Wolf, in Canada. The Wolf numbers were low, so they readily interbred with these migrating Coyotes creating a Coywolf that populated the Northeast. Every Coyote in the Northeast is in reality a Coywolf, some containing as much as 80% wolf DNA. For the sake of simplicity this blog will refer to these Coywolfs that inhabit NYC simply as Coyotes.



Source:
Genetic Characterization of Eastern “Coyotes” in Eastern Massachusetts. By Way, Rutledge, Wheeldon, White. Northeastern Naturalist 17(2):189-204.